A Test of Friendship
by Fluffpuffgerbil
Summary: After a bout of lonliness, William is reassured by Grell that he's got at least one true friend. But after William is violently attacked, what will happen when Grell's friendship is put to the ultimate test? Rated T for violence in later chapters.
1. Noticeably Upset

**AN:/ SO.. Retry of this thing. I'm going to make it better this time. Not sure where my last one was headed and I like this one better so far.**

**Still not sure where this one is headed completely, but PLEASE! Stick around and enjoy the read! I'ma try to make it really good even though I'm bad at writing.(in my opinion. XD)**

**Well, enjoy!  
>EDIT: I'm going to post this in the most reccent chapter too.. I AM SO SORRY I KEEP CHANGING THE NAME AND SUMMARY, but I FINALLY figured out what I'm doing with this!<strong>

**This is the third title. Previous titles were: A Lonely Soul and A New Found Friendship.**

**I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING NOW THOUGH.**

**Hopefully it will NOT change anymore. **

_Beaten, bloodied, bare, humiliated, cold, miserable, alone, and dying. There was no one to help him, no one to comfort him, no one to save him. The demon attack left him fatally wounded and near death. Was there no one there? No one to lend a hand? No… No, he was alone in the world. Over a century and half old and no friends. Not once had he ever had one and now he would never own the chance. The Shinigami he worked with on a daily basis didn't even bother to take a second look at the pitiful being which was him, for what had he ever done for them? He scolded them, punished them, and gave them extra work. He never praised them or rewarded them. He was cruel, cold and heartless. Why should they help him? He saw the faces of everyone he knew, and every human he collected the soul of, laughing down at him. Everyone was present but one, the red Reaper, but his voice was; calling out his name from somewhere in the back of the crowd, "William! Will!"_

"Will! William, wake up!"  
>William T Spears, manager of the Shinigami dispatch division, woke with a start, jolting up, eyes wide, and breathing heavily.<p>

Grelle Sutcliffe, an officer, leaped back as William woke up. Will stared at Grelle for a moment, looked himself over once, and let out a sigh of relief. He leaned over and moved his hands under his glasses to he could rub his eyes tiredly.

"Ah, William, are you alright?" Grelle asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," William said in a monotone, repositioning his glasses on his face.

"You looked like you were having a bad dream…" Grelle noted, a hint of concern to his voice.

"It was nothing," William lied before yawning.

Grelle reached out and touched Will's hand, which was on his desk, tenderly, "Perhaps you should go home and get some rest?"

Will pulled his hand back and replied, "I will be fine," He stared at Grelle a moment before saying, "Now, was there something you needed?"

"Ah, uh, no. We were all just curious as to where you had gone, considering we hadn't seen you in about an hour and a half," Grelle said.

"Is that so?" Will sighed. _Were they _all _really curious as to where I was?_

And as if Grelle could read his mind, he answered, "Well actually…It was mainly _I _that was curious… everyone else just sort of didn't seem to care where you were… They seemed to enjoy the fact you weren't there to scold them…"

_As I suspected…_Will thought._ No one else cared…_

"…Is…everything alright?" Grelle asked, putting both hands on Will's desk.

"Yes. I don't know why you insist there is something wrong," William said, "Just a bit of fatigue. Work has been rather strenuous lately…" _Not to mention these odd dreams I've been having these past weeks…_Many times before William had had similar dreams to the one he just had.

Dreams that he was alone, had no friends, and no one cared about him. Though, the thing that kept catching him offguard was the fact that Grelle was either never present in the dreams, or when he was, he was the only one who showed compassion and care for Will.

William figured that was just because Grelle spent a lot of time bugging him every day in the office, and the fact that they had worked with each other everyday for over 120 years, and on top of that, Grelle was in love with William, though those feelings weren't returned to him. And William still didn't see Grelle as a friend…. And if he did, he wasn't willing to admit it to anyone, himself included.

William often awoke from those dreams with a feeling of loneliness and depression that lasted throughout the entire day as the dreams weighed on his mind. Perhaps he wouldn't feel like that if he didn't think those dreams were in a way true.

William had no one he considered a friend. No one he really cared about, and he felt like, aside Grelle, no one really care about him. Even in Grelle's case though, half the time, he wasn't sure Grelle even genuinely care about him, just had a crazy crush.

"Hmm," Grelle hummed and shrugged off Will's comment, knowing he was in a bad mood, "Well, if there's anything I can help with, just let me know."

"I don't need help, and even if I did, I would be mad to even consider giving it to _you _to be in charge of it," William said coldly, picking up and glancing through a small portion of his paper work.

"Hnn," Grelle moaned happily, turning his back to William quickly, wrapping his arms around himself, and blushing, "You're so cold, Willu~!" he said affectionately, looking at William over his shoulder. Grelle let his arms fall to his side when he saw Will's expression. William was just staring at the table, what seemed to be in thought, and though there was almost always a permanent frown on his face, there was something about this frown that seemed off to Grelle. William looked… almost sad. It wasn't a look Grelle liked though. He turned back around and just looked at Will sadly, not speaking quite yet.

'_You're so cold, Willu~!' _Grelle's words echoed in Will's mind. Those were words he had heard numerous times a day from Grelle, and though Grelle seemed to thoroughly enjoy(perhaps a bit too much) his coldness, William was starting to wonder if it was a good thing he was so cold, cruel and heartless. Possibly that was why no one really wanted to get to know William.

Another reason, William assumed, why he couldn't start any relationships was because he was naturally quiet, somewhat shy when it came to himself, and just plain bad at opening up to others. That was just how he naturally was, and he doubted he'd be able to change. At least not easily or quickly.

Grelle nearly lied on the desk and tried to look up at William, "Something's bugging you. You rarely ignore me like that. And it's not just today you've been acting strange! The past week at least I've started to notice you're attitude is changing, and honestly, it's starting to scare me…"

"In what way?" William asked.

"Well, you just act… depressed or something," Grelle said, "It's really starting to concern me."

William was taken aback by what Grelle said. He paid closer attention to him than he thought. And he seemed truthfully concerned. But again, his natural attitude was getting in the way and he wasn't sure how to respond.

"I…am not really depressed," William started.

"But?"

"I…" William found it hard to continue, "I am-"

"Hey, Sutcliffe," Eric Slingby, also a Shinigami officer, appeared in the doorway of Will's office, "Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Alan was being nosy and saw that there's a soul on your to die list that's due to be collected in about twelve minutes."

"Ah!" Grelle squeaked, "I'm sorry, I just lose track of time when I'm with William!" he shut his eyes and smiled happily, blushing a bit. Then he opened his eyes and a concerned look took over his expression again and he looked at William, "I'll be back later, Will!" And with that, Grelle carefully pushed past Eric and headed to grab his Scythe and to the Human Realm to collect the soul.

Eric watched Grelle leave and turned to Will, "So, what happened to ya? You hadn't been around for quite awhile. Normally you watch us like hawks."

"Someone has to keep you all in line," William said.

"True, true. Ronald and Alan were sort of picking on each other, but I settled that," Eric said, "So don't worry, I kept things under control."

"As to what happened to me-I fell asleep," William said.

"Not something that happens very often for you, but I have noticed you seem rather tired. Lots of

overtime?" Eric asked, "Or is there another reason you're so tired this early afternoon?"

"Overtime combined with my regular duties," William said, "I've not been getting the best sleep lately either."

"We all go through those phases," Eric shrugged, "You don't want to see Alan in one of those phases…" They were both silent for a moment before Eric spoke again, "Anyway, I've got a soul due for reaping here too in a few… See ya later, Spears." Eric turned and left, leaving Will alone in his large, empty, characterless office.

"Well then…" William said, "I suppose I should take care of some of this.." Will stared at the paperwork on his desk and though he really didn't have the energy or will to do it, he started looking through it and started working the massive pile of papers bit by bit.


	2. A New Old Friend

**AN:/ Next chapter. This one's a weee shorter than the others and I changed the spelling of Grelle's name to Grell. I think I prefer it spelled as: Grell Sutcliffe…. It looks nice like that XD**

**Anyway, enjoy~ 3 IDK when next chapter will be ready.**

It was several hours later when Grell got back and he looked rather roughed up. It was apparent that soul gave him a bit more trouble than expected. Despite his roughed up appearance, he immediately carried out his promise to Will and seeing as he wasn't in his office anymore, searched the dispatch society until he found him.

"William! There you are," Grell said when he found William instructing a bunch of newbs on what to do.

William ignored Grell until he finished talking to the newbs and after they left, he turned to looked at Grell. He looked him up and down before saying, "What happened?" Grell's hair was rather messy, his glasses were slightly tilted and his coat was slightly ripped in a few places.

"An extremely determined soul. Would have been easier with two, but I got it collected anyway," Grell said as if it was no problem. He clasped his hands together behind his neck and said, "We never got to finish our conversation."

"Oh…. Honestly I was hoping you had forgotten about that," William muttered, pushing up his glasses.

"Please, it's been all I've been thinking about since I left. That probably added as well to my trouble with the soul… I couldn't think straight," Grell said, with a small smile. He let his hands fall to his side and was silent for a moment before saying, "And don't think you can get out of telling me what's wrong."

William opened his mouth to protest when he changed his mind and shut it. _There's no point in hiding it from him anymore….he probably remembers everything about our conversation earlier. And I was just about to tell him what was wrong when he had to leave. There's no getting out of this for me._

"Well, would like to say it here, or would you like to go to one of our offices?" Grell asked.

Considering there were too many Shinigami around for Will to feel comfortable saying it here, he said, "Either office will be fine, though I'd feel more comfortable if we went to mine."

"Then yours it is," Grell said, with a slight blush. Normally when he talked to William he had an ever present blush. William nodded once and lead the way to his office, as he got closer to it, his heart rate increased slightly as he got more and more nervous about talking out to Grell.

They reached the office and Will let Grell go in first. Will entered behind Grell and carefully shut the door behind them.

"Where had we stopped?" William asked, his tone of voice slightly more quiet than normal.

"I believe you were trying to convince me you weren't depressed," Grell said, "Which honestly, I'm not quite buying it, considering your attitude lately."

"Per…perhaps you are correct…" William said quietly.

"Well, why!" Grell asked, sounding distressed, "William, I don't like you acting like this! It…it scares me."

"Scares you?" Will said, looking at Grell.

"Yes.. I'm scared you… I don't know… might do something stupid…" Grell admitted quietly.

"Might do something stu-" he started to echo, "Grell Sutcliffe, I'm not suicidal," Will said.

"I know," Grell said, "but still…Why are you feeling this way? I hope you know it's alright to tell me!"

"Well then…" Will took a breath, nervous and his voice trembled slightly when he said, "Honestly…" he looked down at his feet, "I'm lonely…" he said quietly. But Grell heard that, for he had stellar hearing, "There. I said it," he grumbled, pushing his glasses up.

Grell was speechless for a moment, staring at William. He had _never _in all the years he had known him to seem so vulnerable before. "W…William…" Grell stuttered.

William had his back turned to Grell, so he was surprised when Grell clasped his arms around his chest and hugged him from behind. "What…are you doing?" William asked, glancing over his shoulder at Grell and instinctively started to pull Grell's hands off of him, but then stopped.

Grell rested his head on Will's back and said, "You looked like you needed it."

William was silent, making no move to get Grell off of him. Then he heard and felt Grell laugh a bit.

"What?" William asked, his icy tone of voice crawling back into existence.

"You're just like most men are," Grell giggled, taking advantage of the moment and snuggling into William's back and tightening his grip on him. William found that slightly uncomfortable and squirmed a bit, trying to twist his way out of the awkward position. But Grell had a bloody good grip and was making things difficult, so Will gave up.

"What do you mean by that?" William asked to Grell's comment.

"Mmm," Grell tried to figure out how to put the words in the right way, "I suppose blind would be the right word."

"I assume you're not referring to my eyesight," William said, though it was true. Without his glasses, he was blind.

"Of course not," Grell said, "What I mean is: You say you're lonely?" William didn't answer so Grell continued, "Well, you're too blind to see you've got at least one true friend. Honestly though.. I'm not sure how the others consider you. They definitely respect you as far as work goes, but I don't hang out with them either, so I don't know what they think." There was a silence between the two before Grell said, "Oh and if you're as blind in that sense as you are in the sense you can't see a centimetre infront of your nose without your glasses, I meant that one true friend of yours was me."

William placed his hands on Grell's- which prepared Grell to have William shove him off, but to his surprise, he didn't- and opened his mouth to speak ,but no words would come out.

"You don't have to say anything," Grell said, knowing what William was attempting to say. But he had never heard those words from Will and wasn't going to force him to say them. Grell answered those unspoken words anyway, "You're welcome."


	3. A Rainbow of Emotions

**AN:/ Yaaay, third chapter.**

**I'm tired now.**

**And I feel like I'm getting some sort of influenza. DX I'm kinda cold, I feel all congested in my chest, and slightly achey bones... and I keep coughing. Nuuuu**

**But sick=sick Grelliam pics? XD Not sick as in..bad, but sick as in, one of them's got a cold. XD**

**ANYWAY, enjoy it.**

**This chapter's really got all the emotions in the book almost. XD**

**Got some humour, a bit of drama, fighting, sweetness,**

**Yep! Nice full plate of emotions. :3 And I've used many words I've not used before. Or at least more descpritive words to ad flavour~**

William let Grell stay where he was for a few more minutes, but in just a short second, William felt really awkward.

"I wasn't going to say thank you," William said all of a sudden. There was, though, a slight tremble to his words.

"Wh…what?" Grell said.

"Get off of me," William said, twisting and pulling his way out of Grell's grip.

"I was about to say how unnecessary that was," Will lied, and convincingly.

"It… It didn't seem like it…" Grell said timidly, cowering infront of Will.

"You didn't give me a chance to speak," William said, straightening his blazer.

"B-but!..." Grell stared at William a moment before blushing and turning away from him, "Ah!" he exclaimed, finally realizing something.

"What?" Will asked coldly.

"I understand now," Grell smiled.

"What do you understand?" William sighed.

"Your way of showing affection," Grell said.

"And you assume my way of showing affection is different than any normal person's?"

"I don't assume, I know. You show your care for me, and how you say thank you, I suppose, with harsh words and actions," Grell said.

"Please," Will said, "I can say thank you the same way anyone else can."

"Then how come I've never heard it in the hundred some years we've known each other?" Grell asked, "You must have had some reason in those years to say thank you to someone."

"And if I haven't?" Will said.

"I think I deserve a thank you!" Grell exclaimed, his voice adopting a panicky tone.

"For what?" Will asked in a stern, but calm voice.

"I just made you feel better, didn't I? Do you still feel lonely?" Grell asked hurriedly.

Will somewhat regretted telling Grell that he was lonely and was silent for a moment.  
><em>Sometimes I think I should stop being so reticent….<em>He thought when he found himself unwilling to answer Grell.

"William," Grell snapped in a new tone of voice when Will didn't answer. An impatient, irritated voice that grated on William's ears slightly, "there's no one else here or that can hear us!" Grell huffed tetchily, folding his arms and tapping one foot irritably, "You're impossible sometimes, I hope you know."

"I believe I have a soul to reap soon…" William said, wandering back towards his desk. When he got there, he started to check his 'to die' list when Grell slammed a hand down on top of it.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not finished talking with you," Grell said, glaring at William, "Ronald can do it. _You _stay _here _and _I'll _be right back!" Grell ripped the list away from William and started to storm off when Will stood up,

"Grell Sutcliffe! Get back here this instant!" He yelled, not appreciating his 'to die' list being taken from him.

"You hush!" Grell yelled back as he slammed William's office door shut, leaving Will to stare angrily at the door after Grell.

"RONALD," Grell snapped when he saw the young reaper working away on his papers.

Ronald looked up in response to his senpai, "Yeah, Sutcliffe-Senpai?"

With a flick of his wrist, the list plopped onto Ronald's desk, "You've got these souls to reap today."

"Whaa-? By myself! That's so totally too much for one guy to handle by himself!" Ronald complained.

"Shut up," Grell said with a wave of his hand, "Go get Eric or Alan or even ponytail guy or the twins to help. I'm busy with William- I'm not letting him go work until we're finished."

"…" Ronald looked at Grell.

"What?" The red headed reaper shouted.

"Whaddyo mean by what you just said?..." Ronald asked.

"I meant we're having a serious talk that can't be interrupted by work! My goodness, Ronald…" Grell scoffed, flipping a strand of hair over his shoulder.

"Gee, Senpai, you're like, really moody today...PMSing?" Ronald laughed.

"Just get to work!" Grell said, thwacking Ronald in the back of the head with the backside of his hand.

"Fine, fine, I will!" Ronald grumbled, leaning over his desk and turning his eyes to his paperwork.

Grell sighed irritably and stomped back to William office, where before he walked in, stopped and took a deep breath to calm his temperament. Once he felt calmer, he opened the door and entered.

"Sorry I took so long, Ronald was being an-"

"It's alright," William said, cutting Grell off, looking down at some paperwork.

Grell came in all the way and shut the door, "You're not mad?"

"I'm slightly irritated you took it from me like that, but I don't really care that you dumped it on someone else; as long as it gets done," William said, looking up from his papers.

Grell couldn't contain himself and hearing Will say that, he blushed and wrapped his arms around himself, "You're so cruel…"

William frowned, "…Is that really… a good thing though..?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Grell said, coming back into reality from the theatre of his mind. He heard Will's question though, but he wasn't sure on how to answer.

"Well… while I wouldn't say it's _bad _necessarily, I would say that it's not the best attitude for making friends… I don't mind it personally," Grell said with a blush, "I enjoy your coldness more often than not."

"And if I stopped being cold?" William said.

"Then I wouldn't mind… I uh… I don't _think…_ Well, I wouldn't dislike you all of a sudden, you're still my William, it's just I can't picture you like that. It'd take time to get used to it, but I definitely wouldn't stop liking you. Not in the least," Grell said.

William was silent, not sure what to say to that.

"Umm…" Grell said after a second, "William?"

"Yes, Grell?" William said.

"Why is it so hard for you to talk about yourself? Or admit things that are, y'know, kind?" Grell said.

Will thought for a moment, "I believe it is most likely in combination of this job and simply my attitude. I'm naturally self-reserved, quiet, perhaps somewhat shy at times," he admitted, "And this job requires you use no emotion, and if there is any emotion, for me the one that comes first is irritation or anger. Though I'm surrounded by incompetence that's why I'm so easily irritated..."

Grell leaned against Will's desk, "Y'know, it's things like calling people incompetent that causes them to not want to be friends with you. I don't mind though, I know I can be rather incompetent sometimes. But that's when I'm glad I have you there to guide me in what to do." He winked at Will.

"It appears you're the only one…" William said.

"But you do know well enough that this job only requires you to have neutral emotions while collecting souls," Grell said, "Don't act like you don't know that."

"Yes, I know," Will sighed, "Perhaps I'm just antisocial…" He leaned his head down and rubbed the back of his neck with both hands, "I rather stay in my office and work, unless I have to give instruction to other reapers, then I shall execute my duties stoically."

"Yes, I've caught onto that…" Grell said, both he and Will falling silent for a little bit.

"Grell…" Will said, though he said it as if he was trying with every ounce of his soul to force it out.

"Yes?" Grell answered.

"T…thank you.." he stammered, "for being… my only f…fr-friend…"

Grell's jaw dropped in shock for a moment. He shut it and then smiled softly, "Anything for you, ~_Willu~."_

William looked at Grell with an odd expression. _Did I honestly just say that to him? _Will sighed. _I wonder what will happen next… I suppose the only way to find out is to wait and see what fate decides._


	4. Conflict

**AN:/ **

**I AM SO SORRY I KEEP CHANGING THE NAME AND SUMMARY, but I FINALLY figured out what I'm doing with this!**

**This is the third title. Previous titles were: A Lonely Soul and A New Found Friendship.**

**I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING NOW THOUGH.**

**Hopefully it will NOT change anymore. **

**Alright, next chapter will be either up tonight or tomorrow hopefully. **

**Sorry again and please enjoy. XC**

"Now that we've covered everything, I give you permission to go back to work," Grell said after a moment of silence.

"Grell… I don't need your permission to go back to work," William said.

"I took away your permission to work didn't I?" Grell said.

"By taking it by force and giving it to Ronald Knox," Will said.

Grell shrugged, "Well, you can still go work now."

William stood up and without another word and headed out of the office to find Ronald.

Grell trailed after Will, following closely behind him.

William eventually found Ronald; well, Ronald found him.

Ronald ran up to William, "Oh good, Senpai, you're done!" he panted.

"What's wrong, Ronald Knox?"William asked.

"I was looking at your to die list to see what souls were close to dying when all of a sudden, the number of humans dead totally grew immensely! And there were no souls collected from that area either!"

Ronald showed William the list.

"Hmm..." William mused.

Grell looked over Will's shoulder at the list, "Demons maybe?"

"It is possible," William said. Suddenly his stomach seemed to twist in the worst way, causing his heart rate to increase and a very terrible feeling overcame him. He swallowed once and pushed aside the feeling.

"There is only about seven humans without collected souls… Two or three demons can accomplish that," Grell noted.

"Get Eric and Alan. The five of us can settle this quickly," Will said.

"Uh, they're gone," Ronald said.

"What?" William said, "Gone?"

"Yeah, they had a couple souls to collect then they'd come back, check out and head out," Ronald said.

"What time is it?" William asked.

"About 5:45 now," Ronald said, "Unfortunately I'm going to have to do overtime," he grumbled.

"Hmm…" William hummed, thinking to himself.

"You don't think just the three of us can on those demons do you?" Grell asked.

"We don't even know if the problem is demons," William said, "we should investigate it first."

"Right," Grell said with a nod.

"Let's not sit around," William said.

"Yeah, the numbers are up to eleven now," Ronald said with a tone of disgust to his voice.

"Get your Scythes, let us go," Will said as he started to walk off. He already had his Scythe with him and wasn't really waiting up for the other two who quickly scrambled to grab their Scythes and ran after Will.

Once they were ready, the three of them headed out, darting towards the area where the humans were dying.

The three stood on one of the roofs, looking around at the ground below them. The humans lie scattered, all dead, but there was no sign of their killers. It was quiet. Too quiet.

The awful feeling still tugged at William, "Something…isn't right.." he noted.

"I couldn't agree more," Grell said, clutching his chainsaw tightly with both hands, "It's far too calm out here for what's happened, or is happening.."

"Well, what do we do?" Ronald asked, leaning on his lawnmower and looking at William.

William didn't reply. His eyes were narrowed as he looked at the quiet London streets and the peaceful, still, snowy rooftops. It was rather eerie and continued to make his stomach turn.

Grell looked around too, but he had a rather bored, disinterested look on his face, "I can't smell any demons around here."

William inhaled deeply, mouth open, trying to see if he could catch a whiff of that repugnant scent demons carried, "I can't really smell anything either…" Will stated.

"I assume we're going down there, right?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, the demons could be down there, we just may not be able to smell them from up here," William said, "The dead humans are spread over a large area. Before we go down, we should split up and observe the sights with the dead humans from above before we go down. It's easier to spot things and if needed, fight up here as opposed to down there where there are more obstacles to get in the way."

"Got it," Ronald said, with a salute.

"Grell Sutcliffe, you go that way," Will gestured in one direction and then pointing in the opposite direction, said, "and Ronald Knox, you go over there. Be diligent. Keep your wits about you and stay focused, but alert. If you see anything suspicious, come find me right away."

"Right," Ronald said and leapt off in the direction Will pointed to.

Grell watched Ronald leave and then came up to William.

"Yes?" William asked to Grell.

"Are…you sure this is a good idea? Splitting up like this?" Grell asked.

"Don't be so worrisome, Grell," William said, "Just be observant. Normally a Shinigami can withstand his own against one demon for awhile."

"Hmm…" Grell mused, "Alright then." He darted off.

Will inhaled and exhaled, watching Grell leave.

William turned and started off in the direction he assigned himself.

He had been out for about five minutes on his own, nothing really happening, aside from the fact that the feeling in his stomach just continued to get worse. Suddenly the wind shifted. William was now downwind instead of upwind, like he had been and he caught the scent of demons. And they smelled close.

William quickly turned around, Scythe ready to attack when something slammed with a great amount of force into his side. He was thrown to the side and unable to catch his footing, slid on his side, across the roof and because the roofs were very icy, off of it. He caught the edge of the roof with one hand, his Scythe clutched tightly in his other.

He jabbed the tip of his long reach pruners into the side of the building and tried to hoist himself up and then stopped when he saw the demon that threw him, come over and cower down over him.

"Awww," The demon moaned in a disappointed fashion, "it didn't fall all the way down!"

"It's a grim reaper, even if it fell, it wouldn't have gotten that hurt, stupid. They're _immensely _stronger and hardier than humans. As in, it's not easy to kill them. At all," the demon's friend said, coming over to her side.

It was obvious this was a pair of one immature demon and one mature one. Not a good thing for William. He stayed where he was, one arm hooked on the handle of his long reach pruners and the other gripping the icy bricks of the building.

"Well then…What do we do with it?" the younger demon asked, looking down at Will, "I don't want it trying to stop us from eating, I'm still hungry. The others got a lot more than I did."

_Others?_ William thought. He looked down at the snowy London ally below him before unhooking his scythe from the wall,

"Hey, what is it doing?" the immature demon asked.

And then Will let go of the wall and after falling the number of stories, landed neatly on his feet, pushed his glasses up with the tip of his scythe and darted away with his supernatural speed that all Shinigami, and demons, had.

"It's getting away! Probably to go find his friends!" the older demon growled.

"Well, can't we just find them and kill them all then?" the younger one asked.

"Did you see that gardening tool he had shoved into the wall?" the older asked.

"Yeah," was the younger one's answer.

"It's called a Death Scythe. Each grim reaper has one, and that's nearly the only thing that can kill a Demon!"


	5. Attacked

**AN:/ Decided to go ahead and upload the next chapter since I had a lot of fun writing it and might as well get my story going somewhere! **

**Alright, this chapter's fairly violent, so yeah. Just to let you know beforehand. **

Due to his stubborn pride, William didn't like retreating from the Demons, but he wasn't stupid, and like he told Grell, he wasn't suicidal.

New Demons may be reckless and stupid, but they were also stronger than their older counterparts. However, when fighting a Shinigami, cleverness and agility were worth more than strength. Now give that Demonling an older companion who was smarter, more agile and careful, though maybe not as strong, and put them in a fight against a single Grim Reaper, and think about who would win.

The young Demon and the older Demon pretty much balance one another out and become a very powerful force, impossible for one Shinigami to beat on his own, difficult for two or three.

Bottom line was, William decided, he couldn't beat the two of them and he wouldn't try. The females also seemed to be stronger than the males, so that team would be pretty much a death sentence to get in a fight with.

William kept running for another few minutes before he stopped and looked behind him and above him, checking for the Demons. He didn't see them, though their stench was stale in the air. He crinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell and looked around, trying to figure out which part of London he had ended up in.

He pushed up his glasses and was about to take off to find Grell and Ronald when suddenly, right after catching a huge whiff of Demon stench, one of the two Demons who shoved him off the roof had launched themselves off the roof above William right down on him.

Will quickly flipped out of the way to avoid getting stepped on by the Demon. He turned to see the younger of the two. _Damn… _he thought, _I can't get caught up in a fight with these two or I'm going to be in big trouble…_

"We fooouunnddd yooouu! ~" the younger Demon sang as she darted forward, swiping a clawed hand at him.

_We… of course they're both here… _William thought as he dodged. He and the Demonling were caught in the routinely dance between Shinigami and Demons, as one swiped and the other dodged, in this case, Will doing the dodging.

"Sit still so I can whack you!" the Demonling complained.

"I rather not," Will said, pushing his glasses up with the tip of his Scythe as he avoided another attack.

Little had William realised that the Demon kept pushing forward, causing him to walk backwards. He didn't realise this until he pulled his arm back and his elbow slammed into a brick wall.

Cornered, the only thing Will could do when the Demon lunged forward was to leap over her head, causing her to slam into the wall.

"Hey… you made me hit my head!" she said angrily.

William ignored her and started to leap up towards one of the roofs when he felt a hand around his ankle. He looked down and saw the Demonling latched onto him before she yanked her arm down, throwing Will down onto the stone ground with a great amount of force.

William hit the ground, landing on his back and the air was knocked out of him for a moment. The moment was too long however as before he could recover, the Demonling came over and Will felt a foot colliding with the side of his head, the strength of the blow throwing his glasses off his face and everything became too blurry for William to make out anything. He scrambled to get to his feet only to have a foot driven up into his ribs.

William let out a gasp of pain as he felt something crack and was again, thrown backwards, hitting a brick wall behind him. He sat there, dazed for a minute before being able to respond to what was going on around him.

"Wow, you've done well," came the voice of the older Demon who was finally just arriving.

William couldn't tell where anything was and was only able to shakily get to his feet, using the wall as support. He patted it blindly with one hand and felt about the air in front of him with the other.

"Look at him. A pathetic sight," the older Demon said. She leaned to pick up something, "Cleo," she said, the name of the younger Demon, "you remember what I was telling you about these?" She had William's Scythe. William just stood and listened for a moment before he felt along the wall, trying to walk away.

"Yeah, Patricia, I remember," Cleo replied, "they can kill Demons."

"Yes. However, it's also one of the only things that can kill a Grim Reaper. You get to see a good lesson today," Patricia said.

"Are you going to kill him now then? You do see that he's trying to escape?" Cleo said.

"Yes, I see," Patricia said, "But it's so boring just killing them so quickly."

"I was hoping you'd say that!"

By now Will hadn't gotten very far. He froze when he had just realised, _I'm going…to die… _He inhaled shakily and turned to look in the direction of the where the Demons were talking.

"Watch," Patricia said, figuring out Will's Scythe and aiming it at his shoulder.

William let out a cry of pain as he felt the blades of his Scythe plunge into his shoulder.

Many miles away Grell stood on the rooftops, and though he hadn't seen anything yet, heard the scream faintly from where he was. He turned in the direction he heard it and didn't know it was William, "Hmm… I wonder what could be happening over there… perhaps it's another human being killed?" he thought to himself, "I suppose I should go check it out…but…that is the way William was going to be looking at… I'm sure he'll check it out.. but it won't hurt to head that way anyway. I'm not finding anything here."

Grell started to leap off in the direction of the cry he heard.

After awhile, the Demons had beat Will bloody. He lied on the ground on his side, eyes shut, accepting his fate and wishing they'd get it over with. There wasn't anything he could do about helping himself now. He was blind without his glasses and defenseless without his Scythe, which he was being repeatedly stabbed with in multiple places around his torso, arms, and legs.

Suddenly Patricia sighed, "It's just not as fun when it's not hand on hand. Range is so boring." She threw the Scythe to the ground and came over to William who just lied, seeing out of one eye, a black blur moving towards him.

"I will of course, have to kill him with his little toy, but I want to beat on him a bit first," Patricia said before kicking William in the ribs, cracking a few of them. William winced, clenching his fists and squeezing shut his eyes, and let out another cry of pain.

The Demoness leaned down and Will felt a hand grab him around the throat and squeeze tightly. William gasped for air which he could not get and was thrown into the ground before he was picked up by the neck again and thrown again. The process happened repeatedly before Patricia picked up Will again and threw him into the brick wall, which William hit head first, that cracked under the strength of the Shinigami hitting it.

"I think I'd like to see the wall completely break, what about you, Cleo?" Patrica asked, "Shall we try some demolition using this Grim Reaper?"

"Haha! Do it!" Cleo laughed, enjoying watching her friend beat up the Reaper.

"It's already cracking, it shouldn't take too long to do it," Patricia said, "unfortunately."

She once again picked up William, but before she threw him, dropped him and looked at Cleo, "Actually, you're stronger, would you like to?"

"I'd be honoured," she smiled sadistically, walking forward. She grabbed the collar of Will's shirt and dragged him backwards before she decided she was at a good distance and, mustering up all her strength and still holding Will by the collar of his shirt, catapulted the poor, helpless Shinigami into the wall which did in fact, crumble under the force of the throw and collapsed part way, burying Will under the rubble.

"Ya think he's dead?" Cleo asked.

"Doubt it, but he's close," Patricia answered with a shrug.

Grell was able to find the location after Will had cried out that last time, but was too horrified and scared to be able to react right away and after the wall crumbled, he snapped back into being able to react.

He stared down at the two Demonesses and bit his lip, eyes stinging with tears a bit before he couldn't keep it in anymore and yelled as he revved up his chainsaw, "YOU !# !" and leapt off the building roof and the Demons weren't sure what was attacking them as Grell attacked, swinging his chainsaw at the two of them as the deadly dance of dodging and attacking started again, this time the Demons in the position of dodging.

Grell, in a fit of red fury, but still able to focus enough to dodge the attacks the Demons snuck in, was holding his own against the two surprisingly well and had managed to nick Cleo's arm once and give Patricia an impressive gash in the side.

Ronald had heard the commotion and Grell's chainsaw and quickly saw what was going on, "Senpai!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing! We were supposed to report back to William-senpai if we-"

"DON'T DISTRACT ME, RONALD! GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!" Grell screamed at Ronald.

Confused, but seeing Grell wouldn't be able to have the upperhand for long, jumped off the roof with his lawnmower growling happily and landed nearly right on Cleo, who hadn't really seen Ronald, and let out a shriek when her foot got caught in and shredded by the Scythe.

Ronald picked up his lawnmower and thrust it forward at Cleo who caught it and kept it away from shredding her face.

Grell saw the position the young Demon was in and broke away from his dance with Patricia and swung his chainsaw at Cleo's legs, slicing them off of her body and Ronald dispatched her.

"CLEO!" Patricia yelled as her young friend was killed. She stared at the two Reapers angrily and with a battle cry, threw herself at them angrily slashing at them while dodging their Scythes. Ronald let himself be bait and dodged Patricia's attacks as Grell slipped away behind the Demoness and brought his chainsaw through her middle and after she fell, Ronald finished it up by bringing his lawnmower down on her head.

Grell and Ronald stood there for a moment, catching their breath and looking around at the alley covered in Demon and Shinigami blood. Suddenly Grell dropped his chainsaw and ran to the collapsed wall and started clearing away the bricks.

"Grell senpai!" Ronald said, coming over to Grell was trying to see through the tears that were blurring his eyes, "What happened? I thought we were supposed to report back to William-senpai if we saw any Demons.."

Grell stopped and shot an angry look at Ronald and yelled, "We can't report back to him if he's dead!"

"Wha-…? Wait… Wait! Are you saying-…?" Ronald stared at Grell who looked back to the brick pile and starting removing bricks one by one.

Ronald walked away from Grell and the pile of bricks and looking around the blood soaked ground, found Will's glasses and his Death Scythe.

He slowly bent to pick them up, taking extra care with the cracked glasses.

"William!" Grell exclaimed when he had uncovered enough bricks to see Will. He carefully uncovered more of William until he was able to pull him out delicately, taking care not to hurt him anymore, not that William could feel anything else. He was unconscious and in the worst shape Grell had seen _any _Reaper before in his life.

"Are…are you still alive, Will?" Grell asked, not expecting an answer. Grell pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth and placed two fingers on Will's throat, trying for a pulse and after a bit of focusing, felt a very, very faint one.

"St-stay with me, Will! It'll be okay!" Grell reassured him, "This might hurt…" Grell carefully scooped up William and turned to see Ronald coming over.

"I-is he okay?" Ronald asked, staring at Will in Grell's arms. He barely looked like himself, limp, bloodied and without glasses.

"I wouldn't say that. He…he's barely alive…" Grell said hoarsely.

"I have his Death Scythe and glasses," Ronald said.

"Thank you," Grell said, voice shaking, "now let's get back to the Dispatch Society quickly and get him to the medical wing. Quick!"

"R…right," Ronald said and the two of them darted off and returned to the Shinigami Realm.

_Please be alright, William… _Grell thought that over and over the whole entire way to the Dispatch Society as he held Will firmly, but gently. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost him. He didn't know how he'd react, or even bear to live without William in his life. Grell's throat tightened and he swallowed hard. _Please…just make it through this… _But whether he was thinking about Will or himself was unclear.


	6. Waiting

The Shinigami Dispatch Society was rather empty now, as many Shinigami had gone home, but the few that were still left, ran up to Grell, asking what had happened, but Grell was too distracted and focused on getting to the medical wing to seem to notice them. Plus he wasn't sure if would even be able to speak.

Ronald, though, was able to speak and explained to the others what he knew about what happened.

They quickly got to the medical wing and due to the fact it was late, paired with the fact that it was rarely used, after Grell hurriedly explained what happened, they were given a room quickly for William and the receptionist hurried to go get the only doctor in the infirmary.

Grell carefully set William on the bed and said, "It'll be okay, William, the doctor will help you."

Grell then turned to Ronald, "Ronald,"

"Yeah?" Ronald asked.

"Get a replacement for William's Death Scythe and take his glasses to get repaired. After that get at _least _four more Shinigami to come with you back to the alley where this happened and work on cleaning up that mess. More than four is better in case there happens to be more Demons," Grell said.

"Alright," Ronald nodded, turning and walking out of the hospital.

Once he left, Grell looked back at William and got to his knees and gently took William's limp hand in both of his, rubbing it gently, "It'll be okay," he repeated. But again, whether he was talking to William or himself, it was unclear.

Then the doctor came in the room, "So William got in a tight situation now did he?" he said.

Grell looked up at the doctor and let go of Will's hand, "Oh, you're here. Yes… Will…will he be alright?"

"Let's take a look at him," The doctor, named Liam Thorpe, said. He pushed his glasses up and came over to look over Will.

"He sure took quite the beating," he said before taking Will's pulse, "he's just barely hanging in there…"

He examined several wounds on William and said, "He's got multiple wounds from his own Death Scythe and has suffered pretty severe head trauma…Many bones broken, but those should heal up on their own without much trouble…"

Shinigami couldn't heal themselves as fast as Demons could, but broken bones, scratches, and bruises healed up much faster on Shinigami than they did on humans. They still could not heal completely on their own though.

"Will he be alright?" Grell asked again.

"He should be fine. Considering he isn't dead yet, he should make it," Liam said.

Grell wasn't sure if he should be comforted by that or not.

"Well, how about you leave me with him and I'll get him cleaned up. After that I'll see what I can do for him, alright? It'll probably take awhile so it's probably fine for you to head home for the night. You can see him tomorrow morning, first thing." Liam said with a smile.

"Oh…alright," Grell said. He bent close to William and whispered, "Good night, Will… please just make it through the night and it will all be fine…" He stayed there for a moment before standing up and nodding once in farewell to the doctor and walking out of the room.

He walked quickly from the medical wing to outside of the Dispatch Society, all the while trying to keep himself from crying in front of anyone who could see him. As soon as he got outside, he took off in his Shinigami speed to his house. He fumbled to get the door open and when he did, shut the door and trudged down the hall to his room and fell onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow and breaking down sobbing.

He didn't bother changing out of his day clothes or removing his makeup or shoes. Just lied there and eventually cried himself to sleep.

Grell woke with a start that morning, immediately sitting up and looking at the clock. It read 8:54 AM.

"I'M LATE!" Grell yelled, swinging his legs over bed, grabbing a brush and brushing his hair as he ran down stairs. He passed the mirror by his front door to see that his makeup had run and smeared all over around his eyes and he was missing one of his fake eyelashes.

Grell stared at himself, "NNnn!" He squealed angrily and stomped his foot once, "I can't go to work looking like this!" He stomped off to the bathroom and quickly removed and reapplied his makeup and a new pair of eyelashes and about twenty minutes later he was out the door and racing towards the Shinigami Dispatch Society.

He got there in a matter of a minute or so and after clocking in, walked quickly to the medical wing.

"Ah, Grell," Liam said when he saw him, "You're here. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"How's William?" Grell asked.

"He's doing great! Well, he's still unconscious, but his breathing and pulse has increased and his body is responding well to treatment and has already started to repair his broken ribs and heal the fracture in his leg. I wouldn't be surprised if he woke up later today, actually," Liam said.

"Can I see him?" Grell asked. Liam nodded and took Grell into the room.

Liam had gotten Will cleaned up, in a medical gown and bandaged in a few places, the only easily visible one being around the head.

Grell smiled sadly seeing Will look so vulnerable. He was quite handsome without his glasses- which were all new and shiny without a scratch or smudge as they sat on the hospital bedside table- and his hair messy and un-gelled, bangs falling into his eyes.

Grell took advantage of this moment to run a hand through Will's hair, brushing it from his eyes and smiled, "I'll see you later, William. I'm sorry I was late. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again though, and I'll work extra hard, making sure you won't have to do much when you get back to work. Thank you for helping him," Grell said to Dr. Thorpe before turning and walking out of the room after a final glance at Will.

The day passed uneventfully and Grell had checked on William several times that day between souls he had to collect and paperwork he had to file.

William didn't show any signs of waking up though and it was eventually time for Grell to head home.

The next morning Grell got there earlier and again, though William's condition was still improving a lot, he was still unconscious.

It was during a lunchbreak and Grell was slowly chewing his food, bored and lonely when Eric came up to him, "Hey, Sutcliffe."

"Oh…" Grell looked up at him, "Yes, Eric?" he asked with a sigh.

"Alan had another Thorns of Death attack and so I had to take him to the medical wing," Eric started.

"Is it still getting worse?" Grell asked, trying to take his mind off of the recent events.

"It's not going to get better," Eric spat, "It's near his chest now. Anyway- as I was heading out of there, Dr. Thorpe told me to come get you."

"Why?" By now everyone had heard about William and was aware of what happened.

"It's about William," Eric said.

Grell's eyes grew wide. Eric rarely called anyone by their first name besides Alan, let alone William.

"You… you don't mean?" Grell asked, voice shaking.

Eric broke eye contact with Grell and looked at the table before he replied.

**AN:/ I am mean to my readers.**


	7. Lost Memories

_"It's about William," Eric said._

_Grell's eyes grew wide. Eric rarely called anyone by their first name besides Alan, let alone William._

_"You… you don't mean?" Grell asked, voice shaking._

_Eric broke eye contact with Grell and looked at the table before he replied._

"No, that's not quite what I mean…" Eric said.

Grell let out a sigh of a relief.

"Don't start rejoicing quite yet, he's awake, but-"

Eric couldn't finish as Grell was out of there. As soon as the word 'awake' was said, Grell jumped up and ran out of the room down the halls and to the medical wing.

"Hey, Sutcliffe! Hold on a sec!" Eric said, running after Grell.

Grell ignored Eric and arrived at the medical wing, not saying anything to the surprised receptionist and barging into Will's room, "WILL!" Grell yelled happily, skidding to a stop when he saw Dr. Thorpe talking to Will.

William had a shocked, angry, and confused look on his face and leaned over to say something to the doctor which Grell couldn't make out.

"Oh I see… William, this is your friend and partner Grell Sutcliff," Liam said.

Grell's smiled faded a bit, "Wait… why did you have to introduce me to him? William, I know that I didn't get to helping you until it was nearly too late, but I(I suppose Ronald helped too) killed those demons and brought you here before they could do anything else to you."

"Demons? So that's why I'm here?" William looked to Dr. Thorpe who nodded and said,

"Thanks to Grell, you're still alive. They nearly killed you."

"Ah…" William said with a nod, looking over to Grell who was still standing in the doorway, "Then thank you, Grell."

"D…Doctor Thorpe…" Grell stuttered, "C…can I speak with you… out of the room?"

Liam nodded, standing up and he and Grell went outside of the room.

"What's wrong with him?" Grell asked angrily, "William's never been the one to say thank you to anyone! He's said it once to me," he added, "but that's beside the point! He'd never say it out in the open! And why did you have to introduce me to him?"

"Did… Eric not tell you what happened?" Liam asked, "I told him to tell you."

"No! He didn't," Grell said, "Though… um… that's probably my fault… as soon as he said Will was awake… I didn't really stick around to listen to him much more… What's wrong with him?" he asked again.

"William has amnesia," he replied.

"What?" Grell said, "S-so…so he doesn't remember me?"

"He said you almost looked familiar, but he couldn't remember exactly who you were," Liam said.

"But… how could he not remember me?" Grell asked.

"Well, due to the amnesia-"

"I KNOW HOW! I just… can't believe he'd forget me…What else does he not remember?" Grell asked.

"Well, he wasn't sure where he was when he woke up, besides being at a hospital, but I don't blame him for not knowing that anyway, he's never really been to the medical wing before. He remembers his long reach pruners are his Death Scythe for collecting souls. However, his Scythe's the object most important to him…"

Grell felt a little hurt that William would remember a stupid Death Scythe over his only friend. Grell sighed.

"Don't be too upset," Liam said, "I mean, even though this is the first case of amnesia I've seen in a Shinigami, I've studied it in humans a lot, and it's likely it's not permanent. However, the way Shinigami react to certain things can be much different than how humans react to the same things. Sometimes Shinigami react better, sometimes worse. He's the first I've seen like this, and only time will tell how he'll be. The best thing you can do for him right now, since he doesn't seem to remember his colleagues, is help him to get re-familiarized with everyone. Just help him out with whatever he needs.  
>Don't worry about his work schedule. I've cleared it and separated it and added it to many other Shinigami's schedules. He's free from working for at <em>least <em>three days, though he should still come in and try to get some memories back."

Grell nodded, "I'll do the best I can for him."

"Shall we go back in?" Liam said gesturing to the door.

Grell nodded again and they walked back over to the door, opened it and went in where William was just looking around the room a bit, waiting for them.

He looked towards them as they came in.

"William, Grell's going to show you around, pretty much just help you get to know the people you've forgotten, things like that," Liam said, "You've got no paperwork to do for the next three days, no reaping for at least a week. Just take this time to get yourself reacquainted with things and if you have any problems within the next three days, come see me right away. If not, I'll see you then."

"So I don't have to stay here any longer?" William asked.

"Seeing as your leg and your ribs seem to not be bugging you at all, you're conscious and responding well to things, I don't see why. Just no combat or soul reaping for at least a week. Take it easy, don't push yourself too hard on anything. I know this will probably take awhile to get used to, considering the fact you've lost nearly all your memories from the last century or so, but let's hope that it's not permanent. I'll try to see if I can find anything on amnesia in Shinigami. Sound good?" Dr. Thorpe finally finished.

"Yes, that sounds fine," William said in the same cool, calm tone he normally had.

"Good," Liam nodded, "Your new suit is over there." He gestured to a neatly folded up suit and shoes on a chair in the corner of the room, "You can change in here or the restroom."

"Thank you," William said, "I'll change in the restroom."

"Well then, you have any questions?" Liam asked.

"No, I will be fine," William said.

"Alright then. Take it easy, no work, just try to get to remembering things," Dr. Thorpe said and after nothing else was said, he turned and left the room, leaving Grell and William.

"I suppose you should go get changed out of that hospital gown, hmm?" Grell said, clasping his hands together and putting them behind his neck.

"Yes, I shall go do that now," William said, gathering up the clothes and pair of shoes in his arms.

William headed to the restroom and Grell followed him and waited outside of the bathrooms for Will to be finished changing.

After a few minutes, William came out, clad in his new suit. It looked the same as his old suit, but seeing Will in it made Grell smile, but the main part of that was because of William's hair.

"What is it?" William asked, seeing the man smile at him.

"Hmm," Grell sighed happily, his emotions taking control as he blushed and said, "Seeing you like that reminds me of the days we spent together when we were young… You never wear your hair like that anymore," he explained when he saw Will's confused face, "It's normally parted and gelled to the side."

"I can see why… these bangs would get in the way," William said.

"You just need a haircut. You can't tell when you're hair's getting long when it's gelled like it normally is," Grell said.

There was a silence between the two before Grell started to talk again. He had his head tilted down, but looked up at Will with his eyes, "So… So you really don't remember me?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't remember you that well. I do know I've seen you, I just can't remember much about you. Besides your name which the doctor told me was Grell… Though I don't remember your last name," William said.

"Grell Sutcliffe," Grell said. He sighed dramatically and took a few steps forward, "It does pain me though- how you don't remember your one and only, closest friend. Oh and not to mention the fact we are…" Grell couldn't keep himself from saying this last part, "…madly in love."

"What?" William exclaimed, "I…I-"

"Don't speak, it's alright. I know you're surprised, and that's completely normal considering what you've just been through, but I thought we should cover the important stuff first," Grell said. Did he feel bad lying to William like that? Perhaps a bit, but he wanted to know what it would be like if he could get William to return his affections, if not just for a bit- before someone ratted him out and told Will the truth. _Just think of it as… _Grell thought for a second, _…an experiment! _

**AN:/ Can ya guys sleep easy(easier) now?**


	8. Lies and New Old Memories

**AN:/ FINALLY. I finished this chapter. Sorry it took so bloody long.**

**And because I don't know how to reply to comments, I want you guys to know that I appreciate and read EVERY comment you guys give! Your comments give me inspiration to keep writing this! :3**

**Alright, I wrote an extra long chapter. Enjoy it! ~**

"I… I'm sorry?" William said, looking stunned, "I'm afraid I didn't hear you correctly? We're _in love?"_

"You only forgot the 'madly'," Grell said with a toothy grin, "Like I said though, I understand why you're surprised, you knew me for so long, then suddenly forgot, only to have this dropped on you like this… Perhaps I should I waited until later tonight over dinner… But then it would have been hard to explain beforehand why I was taking you to dinner-"

"Wait," Will cut Grell off.

"Yes?" Grell asked, looking up at Will.

"Dinner?" Will said.

"Why yes, of course, obviously you wouldn't remember, but a few days before you were attacked, we had set up a day we'd go out to dinner, and that day happened to be this Friday evening," Grell said, lies piling up now. His heart was racing as he hoped Will would buy each lie, but he was able to lie without hesitation or visible signs of distress, therefore, put on a rather convincing act.

Will wasn't sure what to say.

"You _were _going to pay, but considering what you've gone through, I'll cover any and all expenses," Grell said.

"I suppose then you can explain further on the details of our 'relationship'?" William asked, voice raising a bit.

Grell cringed slightly, "Are you mad?"

"N-not necessarily," Will said, rubbing his bruised and bandaged forehead tenderly, "just…surprised…" His eyes glanced Grell up and down briefly before he shut his eyes and winced a bit.

"What's wrong?" Grell asked.

"Nothing.. my head just hurts a bit, that's all," Willam said, trying to block out his now throbbing head.

"Will you be alright? Do you need to stay here a bit longer?" Grell asked, placing his hands on William's arms delicately.

"No, no, I'll be fine," William said with a sigh, "Well, I _do _want to have a full briefing over dinner, which I accept your invitation to, considering_you're _paying, but for now, I should like to re-meet the Shinigami I have forgotten."

Grell nodded, "If that's what you'd like, then please, Will, follow me." Grell tucked his arms in and around one of Will's and led him out of the infirmary and into a large room full of cubicles for the officers and those of lower status, and sub-rooms containing offices for those higher ranked than officer, like dispatch officer or manager to name a couple.

There weren't that many Shinigami in there due to it still being lunch hour, but the main three, not counting Grell, that worked under Will were there: Eric, Alan, and Ronald.

There were others there as well, all of which who when seeing Will, stood up and asked him how he was feeling to which William replied quietly, "Fine, thank you."

"Hey, Spears! I see you're back on your feet!" Eric Slingby waved, stopping his conversation with Alan when Grell and Will came in. He moved his feet from his desk to the floor and stood up, he and Alan coming over to Will.

"Sure you don't remember us, eh?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I don't remember you two," William said.

"No big, I'm Eric Slingby and this," he gestured to Alan, "is Alan Humphries. Both simply officers."

"Good after noon, William-san," Alan said with a bow of respect. When he stood back up he continued, "I hope you're feeling well?"

"I'm doing alright," William said, "I could be better, but I could be worse."

"Yes, you could be dead," Grell said, snuggling into Will's arm and closing his eyes, "I don't know what I'd do without you in this world next to me…" That was the truth there. Grell couldn't bear the thought of living without William alive.

William looked down at Grell whose eyes were still closed, but had a small sad frown accompanying them.

Eric and Alan exchanged looks, but didn't have a chance to say anything before Ronald called over, "Hey, Senpai! How are you?" He rolled back away from his desk, stood up and after a stretch and a yawn, trotted over to the other four Shinigami, "You sure took quite the beating from those Demons, but Grell-senpai and I killed them."

"It was mainly me who did it, but I _suppose _Ronald helped," Grell shrugged, opening his eyes.

"Hey, I helped more than you give me credit for," Ronal said.

"Well, I am grateful to both of you," William said, "Please, remind me of your name?" he asked Ronald.

"Eh? Why, you don't remember me? It's me… Ronald Knox?" Ronald asked.

"No, I'm sorry," Will said.

"Did no one inform Ronald that William had amnesia?"Alan asked.

"Thought the news had reached him already," Eric shrugged, "Guess he was too busy talking to his female "friend" from General Affairs to pay attention to anything else."

"Don't say friend like that," Ronald rolled his eyes, "But for your information, I've been busy actually working today. Had a lot of souls to collect this morning and early afternoon."

"I've just got a bunch of paperwork today," Eric sighed.

"I have a few souls, but paperwork too," Alan said.

"I'm taking the day off," Grell said, "I have to show William around. William doesn't get any work for at least a week, if the doctor says it's alright for him to go back to work then."

"Ah, you're lucky you were hospitalised, y'know so you don't have to work…" Ronald pouted.

"Honestly?" William sighed.

"Huh?" Ronald looked at Will.

"You think I'm lucky to have forgotten nearly _everything _from the past 120-some odd years?" William asked, "How old are you?"

"Senpai, I never said that it was good thing you lost your memories," Ronald said, getting visibly more tense.

"Ronald," Grell said with a warning tone.

"Let's just say I'm a heck of a lot younger than you," Ronald said, not wanting to say his true age.

"Ah, then it makes more sense. You don't have as much memories to have lost. It wouldn't be that hard to remember what you've been through, considering your immature age," William said.

Ronald, insulted, said, "Maybe it's true that I'm not as old as you, or don't have as many memories, but you know what?"

"Ronald, stop," Grell said.

Ronald ignored Grell, "At least I'm not a century and a half with ever having only one friend!"

"RONALD!" Grell snapped.

"What?" Ronald asked.

"Just shut up!" Grell hissed, "Get back to work and stop talking!"

Ronald stared at Grell for a second before he bowed respectfully and while doing so, said, "William-senpai, I'm relieved you were not fatally wounded in the Demon battle. Forgive me for speaking so out of place…" He stood back up, "Now, if you'll excuse me then." And he left.

"What do you think's wrong with Ronald? He was rather rude…" Alan noted, watching the young man, who was still pretty much just a boy, walk off.

Eric shrugged, "Who knows. Just at a weird age maybe?"

There was a brief silence before Eric spoke again.

"….Anywho… Alan and I should probably get back to tackling that mountain of paperwork overthere… take care, Spears," Eric said, turning and walking off, Alan following behind him after saying a farewell to Will, who was standing rather emotionlessly.

Grell let his arms fall off of Will's and he twiddled his fingers slightly and came up infront of Will and asked him, "Are you okay? Ronald from some reason's rather bratty today. I'm sure he didn't mean it-"

"But is it true?" William asked, "Do I only have one friend?"

"Well… Eric and Alan are sort of your friends, though your relationship with them was mostly professional before, and you and Ronald always had a rather strictly professional relationship, while we have much more of a friend-like relationship-well, while we're at work," Grell said. Though that last little bit was a lie. Before, he and Will very rarely saw each other out of work, and when they did, Will normally just ignored Grell and kept on his way.

"So in more words rather than just a few, you're telling me that you're my only true friend?" William asked.

"Somewhat, yes," Grell said, "I think I should tell you though that for several weeks before the Demon incident you had been acting odd. You were always a little anti-social and cold before, but during those weeks, you were acting even more anti-social, though not as cold. You were quiet and not as harsh towards everyone… It was only me who really realised that you were depressed."

"Depressed?" Will echoed.

"Yes, you had the illusion of being completely alone in the world as far as friends go weighing down on you. The same day of the Demon attack was the same day that I assured you that _I _was your friend," Grell said.

"I see…but from what you're telling me, something doesn't quite make sense," Will said.

"And what is that, William?" Grell asked.

"I was depressed and without a friend, even though I'm "madly in love" with you?"

"Uhh…" Grell had nearly forgotten about that. He looked around and saw that more Shinigami had come into the room and most were watching them, "Let me explain somewhere else… your office should do nicely…" Grell grabbed Will's wrist and led him to his office where after they were both in, Grell shut the door.

"Alright, I suppose it sounds like I was giving you mixed information there, huh?" Grell said.

"Yes, it does," William said, looking around his characterless, clean office.

"Well, I suppose I forgot to mention that you sorta got really irritated with me for a good amount of time, therefore we took some time away from each other. It was awhile later when I noticed your change in attitude. Then just the day of the Demon attack when we made up. Then you lost your memories and I suppose we have to restart," Grell said. _How can I lie so easily like this? I hate being untruthful to Will… but for some reason I can't stop what I'm saying…_

William, considering he didn't remember really anything about Grell or his relationship with him, had no reason to not believe what Grell was saying, though he still found the situation somewhat odd, though believable.

"Thank you for explaining that to me," William said.

"N-no, problem, William," Grell smiled, heart racing, relieved Will bought it. _He is going to kill me when he find out this is all just an experiment to see how things would be if William cared for me…_

"I don't see why we had to come back here though," William said.

"Well for one thing, it's a chance for you to see your office again, and second, I rather keep these types of conversations …eh…private."

"That's fine," William said, "I was just wondering."

"So if that everything you wanted to know…" Grell started.

"There's much more I'd like to know, but I'll save it for over dinner," William said.

"Very well then, William dear, whatever you'd like," Grell sighed happily, "Shall I show you the rest of the Shinigami Dispatch Society before we head to the library that holds the Cinematic Record books?"

"That sounds fine," William said.

Grell opened the door, "After you, darling."

Will's eyebrow twitched at the 'darling' name, but he brushed it off and headed out of the office, Grell coming up beside him afterward.

Grell showed Will around the Dispatch Society, pointing out people, places, and departments as he did so. After that he took him away from the main building of the Dispatch Society and to the library.

Grell, with a bit of difficulty, pulled open the huge library doors and once he finally got them open, he panted, "Finally… Well, come, follow me, William." Grell went in and William followed, starting to push the doors back shut when he felt a hand placed delicately on his arm. He turned and looked at Grell who pushed down Will's arms gently as he said, "Ah, William, it's kind of you to try to shut the door, but don't strain yourself. You're still recovering. I can shut the doors."

"I can get it fine, Grell," Will said.

"I'm sure you can, but I don't want you to end back up in the hospital, dear," Grell said.

Will sighed, "I won't end up in the hospital for shutting a couple doors."

"Please, Will, don't be so difficult," Grell said.

Will and Grell locked eyes for a moment, neither of them giving in for a few minutes. Finally William sighed again and let his arms fall to his sides, "Very well, have it your way."

Grell smiled and again, with some difficulty, pushed the doors shut.

Once he had them closed, they passed through the foyer of the library and headed through the still large, but smaller than the other, doors to get to the main section of the library.

William as he walked in, looked around the gigantic room, shelves that reached to the ceilings packed full of books that contained the either complete or still in progress lives of humans., "It's huge…" William said as he looked up, trying to take in it all. Though when he tilted his head up and then looked around, a sharp pain stabbed at the side of his head and a wave of vertigo overcame him.

"Ah!" Will winced at the throbbing pain and dizziness and put one hand to his head and leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit with his back against it.

"William!" Grell exclaimed, crouching down beside Will, "Are you alright?"

"Nng.." Was Will's answer. He stared at the floor, not daring to shut his eyes as that would only make him feel more dizzy.

Grell stayed squatted next to William, tenderly watching him, waiting for him to feel better.

One of the other Shinigami came over, seeing William and Grell there and said, crouching down next to Grell, "Grell-senpai?"

"Oh, hello, Cody…" Grell said, looking at the young Reaper.

"I had heard what happened to him, but is everything alright with William-senpai?" Cody asked, "He doesn't look too good."

"I-I'm fine…" William finally spoke, letting his hand fall from his head to his knee, "Just a bad headache."

"You sure?" Cody asked.

"Yes, I'll be okay," Will said

"Alright then, great! Now… I'm required to ask this: Is there anything I can help the two of you with?" Cody asked. Due to past events, Cody had gotten in some trouble and was forced to work in the library for some time.

"No, that's alright. I was just reintroducing Will to the library," Grell said.

"Alright. Well, let me know if there's anything I can do for you two. Take care," The young Shinigami bowed respectfully before turning around and walking off to tend to a couple other Shinigami.

Grell stood up and put a hand out to Will, "Need help up?"

Will took Grell's hand and he helped him up, "Thank you," William said.

"Are you still up for dinner later?" Grell asked.

"Yes," William said, "Hopefully my head won't give me anymore trouble."

Grell moved Will's bangs aside and said after looking at his head for a moment, "The bandage is covering most of it, but around the edges of the bandage you can see that your head is quite bruised…"

"Hmm…" Will frowned, "I can sure tell by how it feels…"

"Well then... Are you feeling well enough to continue your tour?" Grell asked.

"Yes, I'm fine now," William said.

"Then let's finish up. It's starting to get late. I'm sure once we finish up we can head to dinner," Grell said with a smile.

"That sounds fine," William said. He _was _starting to feel hungry. He was surprised he hadn't started getting hungry sooner, considering he had been knocked out for a couple days. Grell grabbed Will's wrist and directed him towards a few places and people and as he did so, Will stared at Grell as several thoughts ran through his mind.

_This evening shall be strange, though it will be good too, considering this man here knows more about me than I do at the moment. He can tell me more about who I am, what I've done, accomplished, how we came to know each other, how the feelings I'm told I have towards him developed…_

_It will all unfold in due time._


	9. Headache

**AN:/ Next chapter-enjoy!**

The rest of the day and tour passed quickly and Grell had taken time before they left the office to call for reservations for two at a rather fancy restaurant in the human realm. Once that was done, Grell and William checked out of the office and raced towards the human realm. They arrived there and once there, slowed their speed to walking pace and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant.

Grell and Will went in and Grell gave his name at the counter and they were taken to their reserved seats. The waiter took the reservation tag, introduced himself, and left them to the menus to decided what they wanted.

William looked around the restaurant, "It's a rather fancy place you've taken me to…"

"Yes, there's nothing near as fancy in the Shinigami realm," Grell said, "Pathetic, isn't it?"

William look over the menu briefly, "It's all rather expensive. Are you sure you can pay for it all?"

"Oh yes, I've had spare money set aside for who-knows-how-long for this. I've always had this place in mind, but you've never really wanted to go out to eat, and I wasn't going to let you pay this time, seeing what you've been through," Grell said.

"Hm…" Will said, looking over the menu. He found what he wanted and set the menu down, noticing Grell wasn't looking at the menu, "Are you going to find something to eat?" William asked him.

"Oh I'll just order another of what you're having," Grell said.

"Suit yourself…" William muttered.

"So… you said you wanted to be briefed on a few things?" Grell asked.

"Yes…" William said, "Namely I want to know more about my past. How… our "relationship" came to be…"

"Alright," Grell said, getting a little nervous, "Well, to start, we met when we were very young, just new Shinigami. We trained in the same class to become Shinigami and were paired together to reap our first soul- the final test to become a full-fledged Shinigami. And really… I was a bully then."

"A bully? I find it hard to believe _that…_" Grell said.

"Oh it's true alright," Grell said, "I hated being paired for that task with you, a B average student, when I had AAAs."

"Really? You had AAAs?"

"….In one subject, but it was still a higher grade than yours and I was pretty arrogant back then, I admit," Grell said.

"Then how had you come to like me?" Will asked.

"You stood up for yourself," Grell smiled, "You were tired of me treating you how I was, you were focused on the task at hand, and fought back when I attacked. I got distracted and you hit me, from the front, from the back, the sides, from above and below…" he blushed and closed his eyes at the memory.

William just stared at him.

"You became increasingly cold and extremely focused on the tasks ahead, so it was no wonder you flew up the ranks and became Manager of the Dispatch Division. I may sometimes slack of as well, but I was right behind you, actually. I can be rather serious and hard working when I have to be.  
>That's how I became a Dispatch Officer, instead of just an officer."<p>

William nodded slowly and before he could say anything else, the waiter came to see if they were ready to order. William ordered and Grell said he'd have the same. The waiter left with their order and Grell and Will got back to their conversation.

"You never really showed much emotion or care for your subordinates, at least at first…actually no, even after awhile you never really seemed to care as long as the job got done. But I suppose that's because you say you work with incompetent people and that's why you always had to spend long hours into the night doing overtime… You never seemed happy really. If anything, you were sadistic, taking pleasure in hurting others, or causing them to do work they shouldn't have had to do. I honestly found it a rather…attractive quality in you."

"Is that so?" William asked.

"Yes, very much," Grell said. He fell silent, looking at the table.

"Is something wrong?" Will asked.

"Well…" Grell said nervously, "I've not actually been that truthful to you…I'm sorry, William…"

"About what?" William asked.

"Well… the truth is… we're not actually in love…" Grell said.

William sighed, but the nature of the sigh Grell was unsure about, whether he was relieved or angry, it was unclear.

"If that's so then why did you say that we were?" William asked with an unreadable tone.

"I… I just wanted to know what it would be like to have you returning the affections I give you," Grell stuttered, "But… it seems that you're not sure how to show affection…Are you angry?"

"I am not really that angry, but I am slightly upset that you found my lack of memories an appropriate time to take advantage of me," William said.

"I'm sorry," Grell said again, "But… if you don't mind my saying this in this way, and I don't really mean it like this, I was sort of experimenting… and this experiment did bring up some results… And it just makes me that much crazier for you!"

"Well, are you going to say what it is?" William asked sipping some water from the glass the waiter had brought.

"My dear sweet William, you're a very shy man," Grell said with a smile and a blush.

"I am not shy-"

"Oh, but you are," Grell said, folding his arms on the table and leaning over it, getting closer to Will, "Since you've lost your memories, you've been very quiet, definitely not as loud as you used to be. You haven't said too terribly much to me and seem act rather indifferent towards me, unlike you had been before."

"How was I before?"

"Cold, cruel, sadistic, like I was saying, somewhat antisocial, you did have the bout of depression, and I was not lying when I told you I reassured you that I was your true and only friend. Actually.. I would go as far to say that we _are _more than friends… now that I think about it, you've _never _been with anyone else, male or female, you've spent the most time with me out of anyone else within the past 100 some years, you get insanely angry and dare I say jealous when I spend time with this certain Demon I admit to having a crush on," at that William twitched.

"You have a crush on a bloody Demon?" he asked, a hint of anger to his voice.

Grell smiled more, "See, you didn't like that. Hmmm, don't deny it now, dearie. You give a new meaning to the phrase 'madly in love' because the only way you can show affection is through anger and yelling, hitting, kicking, or thwacking me with your Death Scythe. You never act that way towards anyone else. Poor man, you're so shy and self conscious about your feelings, or expressing affection, all you can do is lash out and yell at or hit someone!"

"That's not true," William growled, pushing up his glasses.

"Ah, and you do that often in situations awkward or uncomfortable to you," Grell said, "Don't deny what I tell you, for I know you better than you do at the moment. I can tell you for sure that _none _of this is a lie. I swear on my life."

Grell giggled a bit.

"What is it?" William asked.

Grell smiled, "You just don't know how happy I am to be here with you, William."

William gave a small smile in return, "I admit… I have not been _not _enjoying the time I've spent with you."

"I'm glad to hear it," Grell said.

Then the waiter brought their food out, hoped they'd enjoy their meal, and left.

"It smells amazing!" Grell noted before taking a bite.

William stared down at it, the heavily spiced, hot, and somewhat greasy fumes of the meal rushing up towards him, overwhelming his senses. He swallowed hard and felt his stomach turn.

He looked at Grell who was slowly eating his meal, savouring every bite, then glanced around at everyone else who were either eating their food unnaturally fast, or eating slowly, the loud, mixed conversations made his ears ring and head spin. He was suddenly very aware of everyone in the restaurant, every sound, every smell, and was completely taken over by them, his head spinning and throbbing painfully.  
>He tried to calm himself down as he shakily picked up his glass of water and took a sip. The refreshing cool feel of the glass on his lips and the icy water cooling him down calmed him a lot. He looked at Grell, completely oblivious to how he was just feeling, which he was glad for.<p>

He looked down at his plate of food and slowly and still shakily, scooped up a small forkfull of food and put it in his mouth and chewed slowly and swallowed. As he started eating more, he started to feel a bit better.

He and Grell didn't say much as they talked, though nearing the end of the meal when William was starting to get full, there was a stabbing pain in his head and a wave of vertigo and nausea swept over him. Without a warning, William stood up and ran out of the restaurant. He heard Grell call after him as he did so, but didn't stop and after a second, he ended up in an alley where he got violently sick., It was about five minutes later when Grell left the restaurant and found William who had one hand on the alley wall, bent over with his eyes squeezed shut, sweating, and eyebrows furrowed. He was aware of Grell, but didn't move.

"Sorry I took so long, William, I had to pay for dinner…." Grell said, "Are you alright now?"

William's answer was shaking his head no slowly before he vomited again. 

"We need to get you home so you can get some rest, Will," Grell said.

William's eyes opened and widened and he was about to say something before he was interrupted by gagging, though this time he didn't throw up.

After a minute of making sure he would be able to stomach speaking, William said hoarsely, "I…don't… 'member…live…"

"What was that, Will? I couldn't understand you…" Grell said, putting his hands on Will's back gently.

"I don't…remember…where I…live..-!" Will gagged, clapping a hand over his mouth.

"You're saying this now?" Grell exclaimed, "Nevermind it, it doesn't matter… can you move yet?"

William straightened up, though kept one hand on the wall for balance. Once he was steadily standing, he let go of the wall and nodded at Grell.

"Alright, good," Grell said, "Let's go. I'll help you if you need it."

"I… I should be alright.." William said, throat bruised and voice rough.

They headed back to the Shinigami Realm and slowly they made it to an average sized white house with a red roof and red trim. Grell pulled out his keys and unlocked his door, opening it and letting William in first.

"I suppose you'll just have you stay here for the night until you can get your personal files tomorrow at work…" Grell said, "You look like you could used cleaned up… come with me." Grell led Will upstairs to the larger bathroom and he pulled out from one of the bathroom drawers an extra toothbrush and set it on the counter, "I'll be right back," Grell said, heading out of the bathroom, down the hall, and into his room to grab one of his white v-neck t-shirts and a pair of black sweatpants for Will.

Grell headed back to the bathroom and put them on the counter, "Alright, Will, how about you get cleaned up here and I'll try to find somewhere for you to sleep?"

William just nodded.

"There are extra bath towels in the cupboard below the sink and you can put your dirty stuff in the basket by the toilet," Grell said, "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will…" William said before shutting the bathroom door.

He sighed and looked at himself in the mirror and took the bandage off of his head to look at the unsightly gash that was still healing and the bruise that had formed around it.

William sighed and grabbed the tooth brush and toothpaste Grell had provided and brushed his teeth before he stripped and took a hot shower.

After he had finished with his shower and had dressed in the clothes Grell had given him, he headed out of the bathroom to find where the red Reaper was.

He glanced down the halls and saw the there was someone in the large bedroom down the hall, so Will headed there to sure enough see Grell there, changing out the sheets and blankets on the very impressively sized red bed.  
>"You can have my bed for tonight," Grell said, not looking at Will when he came in.<p>

William just stared at Grell for a second. He had changed clothes. No longer was he in his normal work attire, but he had put on a bright red v-neck and dark red sweatpants and had his hair pulled up in a high ponytail.

Grell looked at Will, "Is there… something wrong?" He asked, noticing William staring at him.

"No, there's nothing wrong… Th-thank you for letting me use your shower…and your clothes…" Will said.

Grell smiled and came over to William, "It was really no problem at all, sweetie." Grell's eyes wandered from William's eyes to above them, near the side of his head, the ugly bruise visible even under William's rather long bangs. Gently, Grell carefully moved aside Will's bangs and frowned. He saw enough of the wound needed to be genuinely concerned when William pulled away.

"William," Grell said in a serious tone- a tone William hadn't heard before, "tomorrow you need to go back to the hospital. In fact, it'd be in your best interest to go tonight by the looks of your wound. Your headaches accompanied by your being dizzy and vomiting is _not _a good thing. There was nothing wrong with the food, for we ate the same thing. You have been acting like your head's bugging you all day…"

"I.. I'll be-"

"_Don't _say 'I'll be fine'!" Grell exclaimed, "William this is _serious._ Why hasn't your head healed yet? Sure we can't heal as fast as Demons, but he can heal a hell of a lot faster than humans can. And your head doesn't look like it's healed at all since your injury."

"The doctor had told me that here was one of the places I was stabbed with my Death Scythe," William said.

"Death Scythe wounds don't quite heal that easily you know. A wound like this isn't good," Grell said.

There was silence and then Grell sighed, "Let me finish putting new blankets and pillows on the bed for you…."

Grell then thought about something briefly as he was finishing up putting new pillows on the bed, "You know… why the hell did Liam only put a _bandage _on your head instead of actually doing something useful about it!"

"I believe it is because the wound has gotten worse… it wasn't this bad when I was there…" William said he winced as his head decided to start throbbing again with a dull aching pain, "Nnn…I need….to sit down…" William couldn't even make it towards the bed before he started to collapse.

The last thing he remembered was Grell yelling his name and running towards him before all was black.


	10. Assessments and Confessions

**AN:/ Enjoy~ Oh and there is a little more yaoi-ish type stuff in this chapter, just to warn… nothing major at all though.**

When William opened his eyes all he could see was the white blur he assumed was the ceiling.

"Oh, he's waking up," came Grell's voice and Will saw the blur, which was Grell, standing over him.

Will shut his eyes again and rubbed them and realised he wasn't wearing his glasses, which explained the blurriness of everything. He groaned and moved to sit up when there was a slight pressure on his shoulders making him lie back down in the bed he was in.

"How are you feeling?" came the voice of Liam Thorpe.

"F-ine," Will's voice cracked as his throat burned out of want for something to drink.

"Do you need anything?" Liam asked.

"Water," William said, "and my glasses."

"Alright, I'll go get you a glass of water," Liam said, leaving the room.

Will's vision cleared up when he felt Grell slip his glasses onto his face, "When..did he," Will coughed only to regret it as his throat screamed in pain at him, "get here?"

"As soon as you passed out, I got you on the bed and ran to the Dispatch Society where through some

sort of miracle, I caught him leaving. He grabbed his medical stuff and came with me right away when I told him what had happened to you…. Once we got back you were pretty much out cold… Liam applied some antibiotics to the wound in your head to fight any infections that may come about. He said he'd perform a few different tests with you once you were conscious," Grell explained.

"I see," William said.

"He gave you an injection for killing pain as well as I told him you were having bad headaches," Grell said.

William glanced around at his surroundings, "So I'm still at your house?"

"Yes, that's correct," Grell said.

William nodded. He lifted a hand up slowly but stopped, thinking for a moment.

"What is it, William?" Grell asked, still leaning over Will slightly.

William stretched his hand back out again and grabbed a strand of Grell's hair, tugging down on it slightly.

"Hmm?" Grell leaned down closer to Will, whose hand Grell felt move to the back of his neck. Grell shivered slightly, but stayed as calm as he could.

"I…I'm sorry…for causing you all this trouble," William said quietly. Grell's jaw dropped a bit,

"William!" he said softly, "It's not your fault." He leaned down to touch his forehead gently to Will's and said, "Plus, I really don't mind helping you out while you're going through this. I wouldn't want to feel like I'm being a bad friend and not helping out at all."

As soon as Grell finished, there was a gentle 'Ahem' from behind them.

William's hand slid off of Grell's neck and he sat up as Grell stood up and both looked to see Liam.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I've got your water, William," the doctor said, holding up the glass.

"Oh," William said, feeling his face grow warm, "Thank you," he said hoarsely to Liam who came over and handed Will the water.

As William sipped it, Liam picked up his clipboard and looked through it until he reached a certain section of it, "So apparently your injuries are worse than it first appeared…" Liam said, "Your head isn't healing as quickly as it should… Have any of your other injuries been giving you trouble?"

"N-no," William said.

"Hmm… Your symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, memory loss…anything else?" He looked at William to Grell, seeing if either had an answer.

"He's been rather dizzy," Grell noted.

"Alright, dizziness…" Liam said, scribbling something down in his clipboard, "How is your eyesight?" he asked William.

"As it's always been," William said, "However, I think it's worse in this eye now," he said, pointing to his right eye, the same side of his head that was injured the worse.

Liam finished writing again and had Will do a few different tests to test his visual functions, response time, verbal capabilities-in other words, speaking, and hearing.

He did fine on the hearing test and though he passed it, didn't do the best on the visual test, but did the worst on the response time. His speaking test was a little better than his visual one, but not as bad as the response time.

Liam recorded these things and then said, "Well, I see it now- you've got severe traumatic brain injury… Unfortunately I've done pretty much all I can for you, Will. All I can tell you is take it easy, make sure you drink a lot of fluids to keep yourself hydrated, get enough rest at night and don't push yourself too hard to do any work. In fact, you're off work duty until I give you the 'OK'. The recovery might be tough…For both of you. I'm starting to think that this memory loss is definitely long term, though. But both of you stay strong. It won't be easy on either of you."

"Thank you for coming tonight, Liam," Grell said, frowning a bit.

"No problem," Liam said, "I've never seen a case like this in a Shinigami before. It's a challenge to tackle… I'm still working on researching more of these types of injuries in Shinigami since they're so much more complex than Humans. It's certain that if Will were a Human, that he would have been dead long before you found him, Grell. Shinigami are certainly tougher, but a Scythe to the head comes pretty close to humanizing a Grim Reaper. Take it easy and good luck. To both of you. Again, see me if you have any more problems. But I _do _expect to see you back here in a few days so I can check on you- unless you have issues before then. Grell, keep a close eye on him, don't leave him by himself for more than 24 hours in case there's some major issue. Monitor his condition throughout the day, keeping an eye out for sudden behavioural, physical, or mental changes."

"Got it," Grell nodded.

"Thank you," William said.

Liam smiled, "Like I said, it's no problem." He started to walk out the door when he stopped and said, closing his eyes and smiling, "Oh right, one more thing Will- no strenuous physical activity. 'Kay?"

"Uh.. no problem," William said.

"See you later," Liam said before continuing on walking.

"Does he talk too much in your opinion?" Grell asked.

"He's a doctor, I suppose it's his job.." Will shrugged, "I noticed earlier while coming in your house that it is a good sized house. Surly there's another bedroom besides this one?"

"Well, yes, there is. But one, I never really had a reason to put a bed in there, and two, even if there were, and you were to use it, I have orders keep an eye on you," Grell said.

"You just received those 'orders' now though," Will noted, "You wouldn't have known to do so before."

"That is somewhat true, but with how you were acting, I wasn't going to leave you unmonitored for too long. I admit, I was rather scared for you…" Grell said, sitting down on the edge of Will's bed.

"I'm going to be fine," William said, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.

Grell frowned a bit and said,

"He is right though when he says this won't be the easiest to get through… You whom I've known for so, so long, I've gotten used to your attitude towards me…. You'd kick me and tell me to go away, but I would just disregard that and think of how someday I may just get the chance to win over your affections and attention… Well, I already had your attention, but I wanted more _positive _attention… Before I thought that maybe if I could make you jealous enough you'd come to realise how I hoped you felt about me… You used to hate Demons-"

"I still do," Will cut in.

"Alright, you hate Demons, so I used that against you and when I found Sebastian, a butler to the noble family the Phantomhives, I found him perfect. Not only in his looks, as I do admit, he is a very handsome man, but a perfect Demon I could obsess over and gush about when I was with you, miss work over and spend time with him… even though he often wanted to hurt me…." Grell shut one eye in a cringe as he remembered the pain Sebastian had dealt to him before, "Anyway, you often did come to find me to bring me back to work when I was out fooling around and spending time with Sebas-chan. Your jealousy was building up and it was obvious you hate _that _certain Demon more than the others. I figured it was only a matter of time before you snapped, William. But then you lost your memories. And now things are and will be different, won't they?"

"Perhaps… but to think you'd go through all that just to try to make me jealous? Were you _that _desperate, Grell Sutcliffe?" William asked. Grell looked at him in surprise. It was a thing that sounded like the 'old' Will would say, as William hadn't used Grell's full name like that since he lost his memories.

"What is it?" Will asked, seeing Grell's expression.

"N-nothing," Grell said with a small smile, "It was just how you said that… It reminded me a lot of you before you lost your memories. How you said it- it was very…. cold.." Though Grell didn't say that like it was a bad thing, there was a slight tremor to his voice and he blushed a bit, "Perhaps you may readopt your old attitude back in time.."

"But is that a good thing?" William asked.

"What?"

"Is it a good thing that I may become how I was? From what you've told me, I sounded rather cold-hearted and mean…" William said.

"Maybe you were…" Grell said, "but I did grow to love you how you were. Not that I don't like you now, it's just…taking time to get used to. The thought of you not rolling your eyes in annoyance or not hitting me when I screw something up is an odd thought…."

"The hardest thing for me will be getting re know everyone again. Not necessarily you anymore, though I'm still getting to know you, but everyone else at the Dispatch Society… considering I am the Manager of the Dispatch Division, according to what you told me…" William said.

"Yes, that's true.." Grell said before pausing a moment. He looked down at his lap briefly before looking up at Will, "Don't worry though, William. I'll help you get through this. You can count on that."

"Th-thank you," William said quietly.

Grell giggled, "That'll be another thing to get used to."

"What?" William asked, looking at Grell.

"You saying thank you. You never thanked anyone for anything before," Grell said.

"I didn't sound like the best person before…" William said.

"Like I said, I loved you how you were though," Grell said, "But…"

"But you were the only one who cared for how I acted before," William said.

"Maybe, but like I was saying over dinner, I think that you acted like that, particularly around me or when I was brought up in the subject, because of your self-consciousness and shyness," Grell noted.

"I honestly don't know," William said, "I don't remember how I acted before." William sighed, closed his eyes and lied back in the bed.

"Are you ready to sleep?" Grell asked.

"I believe so," William said, not opening his eyes.

"Hmm….alright then," Grell sighed, sliding off of the bed. He walked over to the lights and switched them off before heading over to the couch in the master bedroom he had set up for himself to sleep on.

He lied down in it and after pulling on his covers, said quietly, "Good-night…William."


	11. Not the same

**AN:/ Sorry it took forever to update and sorry that the chapter's short.**

**I've not really been in the mood for writing this really. But I forced myself to update it. XD **

**Enjoy~**

The next morning William was roused by the scent of eggs and bacon cooking downstairs. Feeling much better than he had the night before, his stomach growled and William realised that he really hadn't gotten anything to eat since he was first injured by the Demons. He was unconscious those couple days and after he had woken up, he didn't eat anything until he and Grell went to dinner, which didn't do much good for William, as nothing he ate that night had stayed in his stomach for too long. He hoped that wouldn't be the case this time and tried not to think about as he figured if anything would make him sick again, it was the psychological factor of him thinking he'd get sick that would cause it.

This over analysis caused his head to ache just a bit but nothing too bad.

William brushed these thoughts away and after grabbing his glasses and placing them on his face, he slowly got out of bed, trying not to move too fast and cause any vertigo. He was successful in not becoming dizzy and though he was going to head straight downstairs to the kitchen, he decided to be nosy and take a look around Grell's room.

The bed he just noticed was actually rather large, unnecessarily large for one person in Will's opinion, and it seemed that red, white, and wood was the main theme. The walls were white with red trim around the floor which was an appealing looking dark redwood he assumed was cherry.

The couch Grell had slept on that night was red, and on it were red blankets and red pillows. The bedding on the bed Will used was a more dark red, a nice red in Will's opinion, the pillows were white though, as well as the sheets.

Will wandered about the room, ending up at a desk Grell had in the far corner of his room.

He glanced around at the papers Grell had lying about, but they didn't seem too interesting and he didn't want to be _too _nosy. He saw some picture frames that Grell had lied face down on the desk, hiding what was in them.

Curious, William lifted up the first of the two frames. It was a man that William had not remembered seeing ever before. He was tall, had black hair which was longer in the front than the back, a butler's uniform that included white gloves and a tail coat, and wasn't the worst looking man in the world. Looking closer, Will noticed the eyes the man had in the pictures and crinkled his nose in disgust- it was that Demon Sebastian, he figured.

Will thought the man looked too perfect. He put that picture frame back down, revolted by the thought of the Demon, so he moved onto the next picture, hoping it wouldn't be another of the Demon.

And after flipping it over, he saw it wasn't the Demon. It was a picture of him and Grell.

William stared at himself in the picture. 

He didn't look in the least bit happy in any sense of the word. He looked rather angry and was trying to shove Grell off of his arm in the picture, though Grell looked thrilled.

Will frowned slightly as he looked at the picture. He wasn't a happy person before and though he couldn't quite say he was now, he wasn't as unhappy as he looked in that picture.

Will stared at the picture for awhile longer before a small brownish red book was spotted out of the corner of his eye. He put the picture frame back down, face down, and reached for the book.

He picked it up and started to open it when a hand came around his side and slammed the book shut and down onto the desk.

William jumped, startled, and turned to look at Grell.

Grell looked up at William and smiled slightly. He kept a tight grip on the book and slid it back, off the table and behind his back and then took a step to the side. Will turned to look at him.

"Now, now, William," Grell said with a scolding, yet teasing tone, "it's rather improper to go through a woman's diary without her permission now, don't you think?"

"A woman's?" Will repeated, "It's not yours?"

Grell frowned, "No, it's mine."

"But you said-" Will started before finally catching on, "Grell…you aren't a woman."

"Ah, well that's a rude thing to say to a lady!" Grell squealed, "What an insult!"

"I'm just speaking the truth," William said, emotionless.

"Sometimes a maiden rather be lied to," Grell muttered.

William rubbed his eyes and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Grell asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," William said. He glanced over at the clock in the corner of the room, by the bed, "Aren't you going to be late for work?"

Grell shrugged, "It'll be fine. Now, I've made up some breakfast if you're hungry. I'd…tell you to go get dressed," he looked at William in his white v-neck and black sweatpants a moment before continuing, "However your clothes aren't cleaned yet. And I don't think most of my other, fitted, stuff will fit you. You're just a more built than I...I'm more scrawny…"

"You have nothing I could use?" William asked.

"Except for what you're wearing," Grell said, "Even my old suit is probably too small for _me_ now. It's been so long since I've worn it. Everything else is rather red. And I know you rather not wear red."

"Correct," William said.

"So you might just have to tag along in that," Grell said.

William sighed, "Fine then…"

"Well…..are you hungry?" Grell asked, changing the subject.

"A little. I should try to eat something anyway. I've not eaten in awhile…" William said.

Grell threw his diary back on the desk, "Well, then, come on. I made an omelet for you."

"Is that so?" William said as Grell took his arm and walked with him downstairs.

"Yes," Grell said.

"I didn't know you could cook," William said.

Grell blushed slightly, "Well, um…awhile back I was down in the human realm, disguised as a butler, and I was training under Sebas-ch-…Sebastian Michaelis, that Demon butler, and he taught me a couple things before my true identity was…_revealed._"

"I see," was all William said.

Grell sat him down at the table and handed him his plate with the bacon and cheese omelet, "I didn't put onions in it," Grell said, "because I know you don't like those."

"Oh…th-thank you," William said, taking the plate and setting it down in front of him.

Grell placed silverware for him beside his plate and then asked, "Milk or orange juice?"

"Water," William answered.

"That wasn't one of the choices…" Grell muttered.

"I assume you _do _have water?" William said crossly, picking up his fork.

"Of course I do!" Grell said, "I suppose I should have expected you to want water." He got Will a glass of water and handed it to him before sitting down himself.

"Aren't you going to eat?" William asked.

"I already did," Grell said, resting his chin on the heel of his hand. Will hadn't touched his omelet yet, "Well go ahead and eat," Grell said, "I assure you I didn't poison it."

"I'm not concerned about that," William said distantly.

"Is something wrong?" Grell asked.

"N-no," William said quickly, "I'm fine." He looked at his fork in his hand which was trembling slightly and cut off a piece of the omelet and put it in his mouth, chewing it slowly. It was good. And he didn't really feel all that sick, so he kept eating it and slowly he ate it until he was satisfied. The whole time Grell either looked at him or the table.

"I've made you late enough," Will said, standing up with his plate. He walked over to the trash and scraped it off with his fork and put the dish in the sink, "I suppose we should get to work."

Grell stood up, "I suppose we should," he said with a sigh.

"I think it's my turn to ask you if there is something wrong," William said.

"What? Oh no, I'm fine… I'm…perfectly alright," Grell said. He walked up to William, close to him, "Hold still." Grell said and standing up on his toes slightly, kissed William gently on the cheek and then took a couple steps back, expecting William to be furious.

William had a hand to his face and asked with a confused look, "What was that for?" 

Grell sighed. William wasn't angry in the least, "I'm just glad you're not dead," Grell said flatly, turning his back to Will, "We.. we should get going."

"Right," William said.

Grell grabbed his coat and pulled it on and started to head for the front door. He felt William come up beside him and they headed out of the house and after Grell shut and locked the door, headed to the Shinigami Dispatch Society.

The whole time, Grell didn't look at Will or say anything. Just thought to himself: _It just…isn't the same._


End file.
